Law Commons^™

The Benefits Of Capture, Dorit Reiss

Dorit R. Reiss

Observers of the administrative state warn against “capture” of administrative agencies and lament its disastrous effects. This article suggests that capture has another side: important benefits that should not be underestimated. Capture is a situation in which a regulated industry exerts a substantial amount of influence over the agency in question, leading to industry involvement in creation and enforcement of regulation. Scholars documenting the phenomenon have highlighted a number of negative results – lax enforcement of regulation; weak regulations; illicit benefits going to industry. However, not only is this picture incomplete, it is in substantial tension with another current strand …